Feb 3rd, 2010
The injury problems that have plagued Stanford’s backcourt have now invaded the Cardinal’s frontcourt.
Jayne Appel (2) first felt pain in her foot during Saturday's game against Arizona -- Photo by Getty Images
While guards JJ Hones, Melanie Murphy and Jeanette Pohlen have had limited practice time this week because of ongoing health issues, preseason All-American center Jayne Appel has not practiced at all this week because of mysterious infection in her foot.
Coach Tara VanDerveer said Wednesday she is hoping Appel can play in Thursday’s home game against UCLA (14-6, 7-2), the Pac-10 team that gave the No. 2-ranked Cardinal (19-1, 9-0) the biggest challenge in the first half of conference play.
VanDerveer said the origin of the infection is “a complete mystery.” Appel is being treated with antibiotics in an effort to get the swelling down enough for her to play against the Bruins.
“She was sore in the Arizona game (last Saturday), and didn’t know what it was,” VanDerveer said. “We did all the tests, the MRI and everything, and it’s nothing structural, so that was good. Jayne thought it might be a stress fracture or something.”
The best guess is that Appel will play on Thursday, but if she can’t go, freshman Joslyn Tinkle will probably get her first career start.
In other Stanford injury news, forward Kayla Pedersen tweaked her ankle and guard Roz Gold-Onwude bruised her knee, but both are expected to play.
Pohlen is expected to play as well, despite the fact that her ankle problems have limited her practice time and seems to have affected her shooting touch.
Murphy has practiced on a limited basis, but she is questionable for Thursday’s game, and, as usual, VanDerveer will have to wait until game day to know whether Hones can play. Hones does not practice at all because her knee tends to swell, and there is no way of knowing how it will feel on game day. She too has seen her shooting percentage drop since her practice time has diminished.
